The present invention relates to a device for adding water to the water reservoir of a cut live tree, and in particular to such a device for use with Christmas trees where the water is introduced through a funnel disguised as an ornament.
A common holiday decoration is the Christmas tree. Although artificial trees are often used, many still prefer the cut live tree which is maintained through the holiday season in a stand made for this purpose. Such stands typically require a water reservoir to maintain the tree in a living state for a period of time. Without such a reservoir the tree will soon dry out, resulting in the browning and loss of foliage. Not only does this result in a tree that is unattractive but it may be a safety hazard as well since the dry foliage is liable to catch fire if exposed to a source of heat such as the typical holiday lights.
Since the cut tree must often be maintained for several weeks through the holiday season and a considerable amount of water is required by the cut tree during this span of time, it is a serious and repetitive chore to constantly check the level of water in the reservoir and to refill the reservoir as necessary. This chore is complicated and rendered more onerous by the difficulty of access to the reservoir. The reservoir must of necessity be located at the base of the tree where it is covered by the lower branches of the tree. The branches present an obstacle to anyone needing to obtain access to the water reservoir. Holiday decorations and presents also offer an obstacle to obtaining access to the reservoir.
A number of attempts have been made to develop watering systems which minimize the problems of dealing with the Christmas tree reservoir. A simple solution is to employ some sort of funnel and tube arrangement to allow water to be added to the reservoir from a point of easy access. In order to avoid an overly obtrusive arrangement, it has been suggested that the funnel be disguised as a Christmas tree ornament. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,615,516 issued to Brown discloses a generally spherical hollow ball resembling a Christmas tree ornament. It is provided with a channeling surface and back splash to assist in directing water into a hollow interior that communicates with a flexible tube to carry water to the reservoir at the bottom of the tree.
Another problem in developing a Christmas tree watering device is how to know when the reservoir is full. Alarms for warning when a container is full are known in various arts. For example, Aberle (U.S. Pat. No. 1,213,444) discloses an overflow signal device that comprises a float attached to a rod which moves vertically in a slot in a horizontal holding arm. At its maximum vertical extent the rod hits a trigger which sounds a spring bell. Aberle also discloses a clamp mechanism for clamping the device to the side of a water reservoir. Aberle's mechanism is quite complicated in that the trigger acts to set off a spring alarm rather than sounding a bell directly. Since the Aberle alarm is a spring bell, it apparently requires rewinding and resetting after each use which would defeat the purpose of an alarm used to avoid the difficulty of obtaining access to a Christmas tree stand reservoir.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,575,110 issued to Couture discloses the combination of a Christmas tree watering device and an alarm feature. Likewise, Pierce et al. (U.S. Pat. No. 5,493,277) shows a combination of a Christmas tree watering device with an alarm to prevent overfilling.
The limitations and disadvantages of the prior art are overcome by the present invention as described following.